Features:  

Like most compression software programs, TUGZip can create and extract a number of archive and file formats. It supports multi-volume archives, creation of self-extracting archives and password protection. With six different algorithms, TUGZip has the most versatile password protection we reviewed.

TUGZip will also integrate with your Outlook client and virus scanner.

TUGZip also claims to support batch extraction, archive conversion and the deletion of single files in an archive without full extraction. However, we encountered problems with each of these features. When we attempted to batch extract, TUGZip would only fully extract one archive and then one or two files in the subsequent archives. Also, the archive converter seems to work, but TUGZip doesn’t have the option to designate a destination, so it seems you just lose the converted file. Additionally, when we deleted an individual file from an archive, we receive an error message indicating that this function could not be performed, and then TUGZip deleted the file anyway.

Compression:  

In our ZIP compression test, TUGZip’s ZIP archive compression was comparable with WinZip’s “Legacy” compression, with Excel files demonstrating the most compression.

Compression Formats:  

TUGZip supports compression to a number of archives including the most popular archive ZIP. Some other options include 7z, TAR and CAB. With an external plugin, TUGZip can also write ACE and RAR archives.

Extraction Formats:  

TUGZip has one of the most comprehensive lists of extraction support we reviewed. TUGZip will extract a total of 27 archives including ZIP and RAR files, the most popular archives used today. TUGZip also supports BIN, IMG and ISO disc images.

Ease of Use:  

For a power-user, TUGZip may seem pretty straight forward; however, those unfamiliar with file compression will find TUGZip complicated and cumbersome. TUGZip does not support drag and drop functionality, the navigation is full of file trees and you have to assign your archive destination every time you create a new archive.

Also, when you try to drag and drop files into TUGZip, the file is just moved into the application, not copied, moved. It’s quite strange.

Help and Support:  

Since TUGZip is a free file compression program there is not active customer support. However, the software includes a built-in user guide and an online forum. However, there are many forum posts that do not have replies; additionally the online FAQ is really sparse.

In the end, TUGZip will create and extract archives if that’s all you’re trying to do, but unfortunately, TUGZip just has too many bugs for us to give it a ranking any better than “OK.” And that’s only because it’s free, it’s not suggested you pay for a program with this many quirks.

To learn more about file compression software see our top three reviews, WinZip, WinRAR and ALZip.